Alcohol and drugs
You are 19 and a friend asks you to carry an unopened bottle of wine in your car. When is that legal?
- Only if someone 21 or older is with you and the bottle is full, sealed and unopened. Correct answer
- Always, as long as the bottle stays sealed; the rules only cover open containers.
- Only if the bottle rides in the trunk, whatever your age and whoever is with you.
Why
Under 21 the handbook adds a person to the requirement, not just a seal. You may not carry any alcoholic beverage inside a vehicle unless someone who is 21 years old or older is with you, and the container has to be full, sealed and unopened. A sealed bottle on its own is therefore not enough, and neither is the trunk: the trunk is where an already opened container has to go, which is a different rule. There is one written exception, for work: if your employer holds an off-site liquor sales license, closed containers may ride with you as part of the job. Getting this wrong is expensive. Law enforcement may impound the car for as long as 30 days; a court can add a fine and a year without a license; and where there is no license yet, DMV can be asked to hold the first one back for up to a year.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, DL 600 ENGLISH (REV. 6/2025). The correct answer is Only if someone 21 or older is with you and the bottle is full, sealed and unopened..